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One of the liveliest spots on a Tuesday evening in east London's Brick Lane couldn't be a dining spot or a urban fashion brand pop-up, it is a chess gathering – or rather a chess club-nightclub combination, to be exact.

Knight Club represents the unlikely crossover between the classic game and the city's dynamic nightlife culture. It was started by Yusuf Ntahilaja, in his late twenties, who began his initial chess club in August 2023 at a smaller bar in a nearby area, not too far from the present location at a popular cafe on the iconic lane.

“I wanted to create chess clubs for people who look like me and those my generation,” he explained. “Typically, chess is only put in spaces that are dominated by senior individuals, which isn't diverse enough.”

On the first night, there were just eight boards shared by sixteen people. Now, a “successful evening” at the weekly club event will attract about 280 attendees.

Upon arrival, Knight Club seems more like a music night than a traditional chess meeting. Mixed drinks are flowing and music is playing, but the game boards on each table are not just ornamental or there as a novelty: they are all in use and surrounded by a line of spectators eagerly anticipating for their chance to play.

Jimmy Ifenayi, in her mid-twenties, has been attending the club regularly for the past several months. “I had no knowledge of chess prior to I came here, and the initial occasion I tried it, I competed in a game with a grandmaster. It was a swift victory, but it made me intrigued to study and continue enjoying chess,” she said.

“The event is about half networking and 50% participants genuinely wishing to engage in chess … It is a nice way to relax, which doesn't involve visiting a typical nightspot to meet other people my age.”

A Game Revitalized: The Ancient Game in the Contemporary Era

Lately, chess has been cemented in the cultural spirit of the times. The popularity of online chess proliferated throughout the global health crisis, making it one of the fastest-growing online pastimes in the world. In popular culture, the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, as well as Sally Rooney’s latest novel a literary work, have crafted a certain iconography associated with the sport, which has drawn in a new generation of enthusiasts.

However much of this recent attraction of the chess club isn't always about the intricacies of the game; rather, it is the ease of social interaction that it enables, by taking a chair and playing with a person who could be a total stranger.

“It's a great Trojan horse,” remarked Jonah Freud, founder of Reference Point in the city, a bookstore, reading room, coffee house and bar, which has organized a popular chess club weekly since it opened several years back. Freud’s aim is to “remove chess off a pedestal and make it feel like billiards in a dive bar”.

“It's a very simple tool to get to know people. It somewhat takes the weight of the need of conversation from interacting with people. You can handle the awkward bit of making an introduction and chatting to someone over a board rather than with no shared activity around it.”

Growing the Network: Social Gatherings Outside London

Elsewhere in the UK, a similar initiative is a regular chess night taking place at a city cafe, just outside the downtown area. “Our observation was that people are looking for spaces where one can go out, socialise and have a good time beyond visiting a bar or club,” stated its creator and organiser, Karan Singh, 21.

Alongside his friend Abdirahim Haji, also young, he bought chessboards, printed flyers and began the chess club in the start of the year, while in his last year of university. In less than a year, he reported their event has grown to attract more than one hundred young participants to its gatherings.

“Such a venue has a specific reputation associated with it, about it being reserved. Our approach is to move in the opposite way; it's a social get-together with chess involved,” he said.

Discovering and Engaging: An Alternative Cohort of Chess Enthusiasts

Among numerous attendees, chess clubs are an introduction to the activity. Zoë Kezia, 27, is learning how to play chess with other attenders of chess night at Reference Point. She became curious in the pastime was sparked after an pleasurable night dancing and playing chess at one of the club's events.

“It's a unique concept, but it functions well,” she commented. “It promotes face-to-face exchanges rather than screen-based pastimes. It's a no-cost third space to meet new people. It is welcoming, you don't need to necessarily be skilled at chess.”

She humorously likened the popularity of chess with the youth to the superficial image of the “ostentatious intellectual”, an effort to simulate braininess while projecting the veneer of “hipness”. Whether the chess craze has fostered a genuine passion in the sport is not a notion she is quite convinced by. “It is a wholesome phenomenon, but it’s very much a fad,” she observed. “When you're playing with opponents who are truly serious about it, it rapidly turns less enjoyable.”

Serious Gaming and Togetherness

It may all be a some fun and games for individuals looking to use a game set as a social vehicle, but serious participants do have their role, even if off the main party area.

Another organizer, in her early twenties, who helps organise Knight Club,says that more competitive attenders have established a league table. “Participants who are part of the competition will face one another, we will progress to early rounds, semi-finals, and then we will finally have a champion.”

A dedicated player, in his twenties, is a competitive player and chess teacher. He joined in the league for about a twelve months and plays at the club almost weekly. “This offers a nice alternative to playing intense chess; it gives a feeling of community,” he said.

“It is interesting to see how it evolves into increasingly a social activity, because previously the sole people who engaged in chess were those who didn't socialize; they simply remained home. It's typically just two people competing on a chessboard …

“The thing appeals to me about here is that you're not actually playing against the computer, you're engaging with live opponents.”